Miscellaneous

This page lists the collection of optional and/or homebrew rules and mechanics that are possibly in effect.

Better ASI

In Chronicles of Terre, ASIs consist of improving one ability score by 1, and selecting a feat. This also applies to the additional ASI at 1st level.

Players who prefer increasing their attributes by two can choose a half-feat which grants one point of attribute, on top of the additional point granted by this improvement.

A list of curated homebrew feats are available at Feats.

First Blood

In situations in which combat is initiated by surprise, e.g. ambush or sudden hostility, one creature is allowed to take on the initiator role. Initiative is immediately rolled, but the creature automatically tops the initiative, acting before any other creature.

An corollary of this rule is that preparing an action to trigger as soon as combat starts are not allowed. Instead, the party should choose the most important action as the initiating one.

In ambush scenarios, surprise rules work as normal. Each hostile creature roll Perception against the initiator’s stealth, and may be surprised individually.

Milestone Leveling (DMG p.261)

Due to Chronicle of Terre’s heavily homebrewed encounters, awarding and tracking XP is impossible. Instead, level-ups are granted when important milestones are reached as the story of the campaign progresses.

One-Two-One Diagonals (DMG p.252)

When measuring range or moving diagonally on a grid, the first diagonal square counts as 5 feet, but the second diagonal square counts as 10 feet. This pattern of 5 feet and then 10 feet continues whenever you’re counting diagonally, even if you move horizontally or vertically between different bits of diagonal movement.

Slow Drinker

When drinking a healing potion, a creature can choose to quickly down the potion as a bonus action, rolling the potion’s healing as normal; Alternatively, the creature can choose to use an action to drink the potion carefully, recovering the maximum amount of healing granted by the potion.

Unarmed Smite

Yes, you can use Paladin’s Divine Smite feature with unarmed strikes.